August 14th

Well… today was a big transition day. This morning we finished all our packing and left our Essaouira apartment about 0840.  🙁  We have been here so long – I will really miss this place. Maybe we might come back… hey, maybe the Plaza will be done, LOL! They actually have done a lot more than Jeff thought they would, but not as much as I hoped.

Anyway, when we made it to the street, a taxi was unloading someone and asked us if we wanted a lift. Why, yes, yes we did. An answer to prayer? Our street was all closed up. We weren't sure if this was due to the earliness of the day, or due to the national holiday, Oued Ed-Dahab. He got us to the Supra bus line boarding area, easily and with time to spare. The bus loaded and left one minute late. No problem. The ride took us through new territory (after the winery we visited). The landscape now turned to true desert – more how I pictured all of Morocco being. We came to a city before Marrakesh, and everyone stopped. It took us a minute… it was a stop light. We haven't seen one of these for close to 70 days, well since Agadir!! How funny is that! We also did see a accident. A very small car and a bicycle had collided. Thankfully, the bicyclist seemed to just have a bloody leg. (We had also seen an accident in Essaouira yesterday. It was just two taxis and fender bender, but they weren't clearing out causing a traffic jam and lots of honking.) Up until yesterday we had not seen any accidents! We also saw a Pizza Hut (first “chain” restaurant in 70 days as well) on Google maps in Marrakesh (I like to follow where we are. It also helps identify some landmarks as we are going.) Then actually saw the “Golden Arches”. Definitely in bigger cities. Now at Marrakesh we all unload, thankfully it is right at the train station. We went right over and boarded. We only had a 20 minute window because the bus was 20 minutes late. We weren't too concerned because Supra bus is tied in with the train system. The train took off one minute late – it was 1251. Now we take this train all the way to Fes. We like trains. It is just more entertaining. We are in a second class compartment with eight seats. People were playing musical chairs at every stop. This was because about half of the people don't sit in their allocated seat. But someone comes along and is insistent on their seat. So they just get up and move to another seat- also probably not their assigned one. Anyway, two passengers – a grandma? and her grandson? – had a pet bird in a cage. She let me take a photo of it. But the seats were always filled and boy did it get hot! In general, the temperature has risen because we have left the coast and the cool breezes from it. We had packed our lunch and ate on board. By the time we got through Casablanca we could see the ocean. Then through on to Rabat, Morocco's capital city. This surprised Jeff because we did not think we would get here at all. But we kept on chugging on the train. While on board Jeff booked our seats in first class from Meknes to Fes( we only booked the trip to Meknes originally). So we had to just change cars. First class was better air-conditioned! So nice. The difference in classes only costs us 60 cents!!! (Its not very long, but that was sweet, and worth every penny.)

We arrived at least 20minutes late into Fes. It is 96 degrees at 1940 (that's 740pm)! Jeff had prearranged a taxi ride to our Riad. Our host met us and took us from taxi to our place. He entered our passport info; gave us a quick orientation of Fez; and showed us our room. We unloaded and went up to the roof to see sunset and about Fez. Then sun had already set due to mountains, but nice view. Enjoyed then went back down to our air-conditioned room and ate supper. What a day!